Friday, January 04, 2008

Wipe the holiday sentiment outta yer eyes! Sunday, The Wire's fifth and last season on HBO begins.

There’s an incredible poetry in Clark directing the last episode. He’s the bookend of the show, in terms of directing. There were 30 original crew members with the show at the end, and everyone knows everyone well, and Clark is probably our most beloved director.

Forget following the Britney saga, ignore stories of cut up matinée idols and watch The Wire. While countless awards were thrown at the Sopranos et al, The Wire has quietly continued as the best show on television for 4 seasons and the 5th season should be no different. I'd also put forward that The Wire is also one of the most important shows on television. Collectively the show is really like the Fall of the American City and just how complex modern issues in any American city could be but even more so of a manufacturing center like Baltimore (loss of Beth Steel leads to the closing of the port, leads to mass unemployment, drugs, crime, poor health care, weakened education and racial tensions are all captured in painful human detail). It also demonstrates television's place as a viable re-invention of the long-form narrative. Best of all, for fans of Homicide: Life in the City, Toronto resident, Clark Johnson will be stepping out from behind the camera to take a prominent acting role this season.